Method for aggregating and regulating messages via a constrained bidirectional communication channel

Abstract

A method for aggregating and regulating messages in a network that has a plurality of pairs of nodes and two transmitting/receiving devices communicating via a bidirectional channel. The method is implemented by each of the transmitting/receiving devices. Each received message may be segmented into packets of a predefined size, and each packet may be allocated to a queue that depends on the origin, the destination, and the priority of the message. One or more frames may then be created, and packets of the queues may be inserted into the frames. Frames may then be sent via the bidirectional channel over a predefined time interval, the number of frames sent over the time interval being dependent on the maximum throughput of the channel and on the useful throughput in each of the transport directions of the channel.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A method for aggregating and regulating messages in at least one network comprising
 a plurality of nodes distributed in pairs of nodes and 
 at least two transmitting/receiving devices, the at least two transmitting/receiving devices communicating via a bidirectional channel having a defined maximum throughput, the bidirectional channel enabling transport of data in a first direction and in a second direction opposite to the first direction, each direction having a useful throughput, each transmitting/receiving device defining queues, each pair of nodes of the pairs of nodes having a plurality of queues allocated, each plurality of queues allocated to a pair of nodes comprising at least a first queue and a second queue, the first queue having a high priority, the second queue having a lower priority than the first queue, 
 the method being implemented by each of the at least two transmitting/receiving devices, the method comprising: 
 receiving a plurality of messages, wherein messages of the plurality of messages come from nodes of the plurality of nodes and are sent to other nodes of the plurality of nodes, wherein a destination node of each message of said messages belongs to a same pair of nodes as a node from which said each message originates, 
 segmenting said each message into packets of a predefined size, 
 allocating each packet of said packets resulting from segmenting said each packet to a queue depending on an origin, a destination and a priority of said each message, 
 creating a first frame and, if necessary, at least one second frame, the first frame and the at least one second frame having a predefined size, and insertion of packets of queues into at least the first frame and, if necessary, into the at least one second frame, the insertion of said packets allocated to a highest priority queue being performed before the insertion of said packets allocated to a lower priority queue, the insertion being performed initially into the first frame then, if necessary, into the at least one second frame, 
 sending, via the bidirectional channel over a predefined time interval, of the first frame then, if necessary, of the at least one second frame, the first frame and the at least one second frame being sent successively, a number of frames sent over a time interval being dependent on a maximum throughput of the bidirectional channel and on the useful throughput in each of transport directions of the bidirectional channel. 
 
     
     
       2. The method for aggregating and regulating messages according to  claim 1 , wherein said messages have a maximum predefined size by priority, and wherein in said allocating said each packet of said packets to said queue based upon the priority, if a size of a message to which the packets belong exceeds a maximum size for the priority, the packets of the message are allocated to a priority queue directly below a priority queue to which they have been allocated. 
     
     
       3. The method for aggregating and regulating messages according to  claim 1 , wherein in said sending of at least said first frame via the bidirectional channel, the number of frames sent over the time interval is increased if a sum of useful throughputs of two transport directions of the bidirectional channel is less than the maximum throughput of the bidirectional channel. 
     
     
       4. The method for aggregating and regulating messages according to  claim 1 , wherein the useful throughput of a transport direction is calculated by a transmitting/receiving device of said at least two transmitting/receiving devices sending frames in the transport direction, the useful throughput being calculated based on the number of frames transmitted per sliding second. 
     
     
       5. The method for aggregating and regulating messages according to  claim 1 , wherein each transport direction of said transport directions has a maximum predefined throughput based on the maximum throughput of the bidirectional channel, a sum of maximum transporting throughputs of said each transport direction being less than or equal to the maximum throughput of the bidirectional channel. 
     
     
       6. The method for aggregating and regulating messages according to  claim 5 , wherein in said sending, if the useful throughput of a transport direction of said transport directions reaches the maximum throughput of said transport direction, no frame is sent while the useful throughput of the transport direction is equal to the maximum throughput of the transport direction. 
     
     
       7. The method for aggregating and regulating messages according to  claim 1 , further comprising, after receiving the plurality of messages, identifying said each message received, wherein said identifying said each message received comprises allocation of a priority to said each message received based on at least one piece of information identified in said each message received. 
     
     
       8. The method for aggregating and regulating messages according to  claim 7 , wherein the at least one piece of information identified is a type of message. 
     
     
       9. The method for aggregating and regulating messages according to  claim 1 , wherein a number of queues of said queues defined by said each transmitting/receiving device for said each pair of nodes is greater than two, and in that a priority level of each queue of said queues after the second queue is less than a priority level of a previous queue. 
     
     
       10. The method for aggregating and regulating messages according to  claim 1 , wherein the predefined size of the first frame and the at least one second frame is equal to a size of a payload of a transmission unit for a transport layer used. 
     
     
       11. The method for aggregating and regulating messages according to  claim 1 , wherein the predefined size of the packets is such that a ratio between a total number of control bytes and a total number of bytes of a payload of a frame is less than 10%. 
     
     
       12. The method for aggregating and regulating messages according to  claim 1 , wherein the time interval for sending the number of frames is identical for each transport direction in the bidirectional channel. 
     
     
       13. The method for aggregating and regulating messages according to  claim 1 , wherein the time interval for sending the number of frames is predefined based on the maximum throughput of the bidirectional channel and on the predefined size of a frame. 
     
     
       14. The method for aggregating and regulating messages according to  claim 13 , wherein the time interval for sending the number of frames is selected from a list of predefined time intervals based on performance of a network host, the time interval being selected in a predefined list of time intervals as being the time interval directly less than a result of dividing a size of a frame by the maximum throughput of the bidirectional channel.